Short Sales | Short Sale | Don’t Lose Your Home!

Short Sales have become the buzz word in the real estate industry, but here we are, a few years into the fall of the housing market and still, only 15% of Short Sales close nationally. Why is that? What is causing the failure of so many of these transactions?

Well, in a word, laziness. And it’s laziness on the part of homeowners and short sale practicioners.

For a homeowner, a Short Sale provides a realistic opportunity to avoid a foreclosure. Yes, you will need to move out of the home in most instances, but you avoid the stain of a foreclosure. Yet so many homeowners never even avail themselves of the options that they have.

Instead, many simply ignore everything and just walk away from it all. I feel this is because they simply have the wrong information and don’t understand the benefots that they receive.

As for the practitioners involved, too many are looking for that “automatic” or “outsourced”, easy way, just add water Short Sale transaction. It just doesn’t work that way. Short Sales require some work but the financial rewards are great!

Here’s a question I have for real estate agents. If you aren’t closing a great percentage of your Short Sales isn’t it time to realize that the way that you are doing them isn’t working.

You know all too well about Einstein’s definition of insanity…don’t you? Why not do something to change the way you are conducting your business.

Short Sales are still a very viable means for avoiding foreclosure. Unfortunately not enough homeowners understand the process and too many ineffective Realtors are avoiding Short Sales.

Therein lies the enigma. In an economy that needs real solutions, those charged with energizing the housing industry are opting out. Many real estate agents simply choose to ignore either side of the table. They don’t know how to successfully represent homeowners and don’t know how to bring in real buyers either.

The homeowner who is entrusting their well being to the “professional” is unaware just how inexperienced and uncaring most real estate agents are. It takes a very well educated real estate agent with a team of professionals to realistically navigate the labyrinth of the short sale process.

In this Short Sale 2.0 market, I believe that it is time for homeowners to take it upon themselves to learn how a short sale is supposed to be done. Don’t rely upon an agent who is experimenting with Short Sales to hold your livelihood in abeyance.

The news isn’t getting any better on the economic front, but I don’t have to tell you that if you are in foreclosure or an agent trying to make a living in the real estate industry. Just this week the Treasury Dept. reported reported a 176% jump in short sales and deed-in-lieu proceedings from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter this year.

However it’s only going to get worse as the epidemic of foreclosure filings is expected to surge again as result of the expiration of federal, state, local and lender-imposed moratoriums expire.

So you’re hearing it here first. The assault on homeownership will continue and it is expected to be worse than ever. While loan modifications may help those who can afford to make some payments, the reality is that most homeowners who are in foreclosure are upside down (owe more than the home is worth), and will need assistance in selling the home to avoid foreclosure.

So here we are faced with quite the quandry. Homeowners needing assistance to effect a successful Short Sale and real estate agents who are not prepared to adequately assist them.

So what are these vulnerable homeowners to do and how can the agents who actually care about their career respond?

The answer is education and action. It is time for the homeowner to take a much more visible role in the Short Sale process. In addition to just submitting documents, learn how the Short Sale process is supposed to run and take note where the agent managing your case is dropping the ball. This is your financial livelihood so you need to take a more active role. In order to do so, you need to know what you need to look for.

You need to know what the signs are that indicate that your agent may not be up to the task of representing you.

Agents, you need to understand that you work in a transparent age. The walls of secrecy are being torn down around you. If you are going to succeed at what you do then you are going to be required to demonstrate proficiency.

Client and agent alike need to be on the same page. An attorney preps his client before trial and goes through days if not weeks of pre-trial preparation. The days of agents taking listing agreements and winging it are gone. You’ll only survive in this economy if you are well prepared and an expert in your field. The posers will be found out. In fact many “out” themselves on forums and certain websites and complain and whine about not wanting to do short sales.

So what’s the answer and how is harmony achieved between client and agent in their short sales? That’s the second part…action!

If you, as a homeowner, want to know what is going on in your foreclosure proceedings then you need to be able to follow it from default filing to the untimely end of the judge’s gavel.

As a real estate agent you need to be able to openly and expertly represent your client to the best of your abilities and that means knowing what you are doing.

In looking at the needs of both the homeowner and real estate agent to effect a successful close to the Short Sale transaction we found a site that provides a TREMENDOUS amount of information for both parties to be able to work together to facilitate the Short Sale transaction.

Take a look at the Short Sale resource center that is helping thousands of real estate agents and homeowners to successfully complete Short Sales.

6 housing trends in a still-shaky market CNNMoney.com, Meanwhile, short sales — when a lender agrees to let a homeowner sell for less than he owes — are also expected to spike, reports Moody’s Economy.com. …reports Moody’s Economy.com. Contributing to the jump: a streamlined approval process and a new government program that gives servicers financial incentives to arrange short sales instead of foreclosing on a troubled property.

Government to push lenders to do short sales – SFGate The Treasury Department spent 2009 pushing banks to modify mortgage payments so that distressed homeowners would not be displaced. Next month, the government will start a program encouraging owners and banks to sell some of those same homes. The program, scheduled to begin April 5, focuses on transactions known as short sales, in which a lender allows a homeowner to sell a house for less than, or short of, what is owed on the mortgage.

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About Barry Cunningham

Remember us? Barry Cunningham was one of the co-hosts of the long-running, truly goundbreaking, and arguably the #1 online radio show about real estate investing. Real Estate Radio USA was on the air 5 times per week before podcasting became cool. But now, we're back as a full multi-media operation and we're aggressively buying houses again! We're back baby!

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